The Russian security police FSB reported 31. December that an american citizen was arrested in Moscow three days earlier. According to the security service, he was arrested when he committed a spionasjehandling.
the Man should be charged after the Russian criminal code section 276, which deals with espionage. It is the same section as the Norwegian Frode Berg now sits imprisoned. Enacted on 10 to 20 years in prison.
the Man is Paul Whelan (48). His family went on Tuesday and expressed his concern for the 48-year-old.
” We are deeply concerned for his safety. There is no doubt that he is innocent, and we trust that he gets the rights he is entitled to, writing the family in a statement, courtesy of CNN.
Bryllupsgjest
ABC News spoke with Whelans twin brother. He says that the 48-year-old is a former sergeant in the navy. Now he works as security chief in the Borg Warner, a us company that sells car parts.
David Whelan tells that her brother was in Russia in connection with a wedding when he was arrested. It was then that Paul Whelan does not appeared in the wedding that the bride and groom reported him missing, ” he says.
– He has militærbakgrunn, and has worked in the security industry for years. He has previously worked in the police. He was probably very aware of the risks of travel to Russia. But I don’t look to me that he may have put himself in a situation where he is breaking the law in a country like Russia, ” says David Whelan to ABC News.
the U.s. government said on Monday that they have been made aware that Whelan is arrested in Russia. The Washington Post writes that Whelan according to the Vienna convention should have been meeting with someone from the us embassy in the country now.
Visited Russia several times
According to his brother should Whelan have visited Russia several times.
the Arrest comes a few weeks after Russian Maria Butina, which in the summer were apprehended in the united STATES, said the guilty of having operated as a Russian agent in the country.
the Man should be charged under the same section as the Norwegian Frode Berg is currently imprisoned for. Berg has been a member over one year in prison in Moscow.
Both to the Newspaper and later, other Norwegian media have Berg vedgått that he was on assignment for the Norwegian E-service.
at christmas In the stated Bergs Russian lawyer, Ilya Novikov, that the investigation of the case to be finished. Berg will declare himself not guilty, when the trial against him begins, write the Novikov further.
American arrested for espionage in Moscow
